Posts in category "Arlington Million"

On a clear, sunny Saturday at Arlington, two Breeders’ Cup bids were on the line. Though the mid-seventies temperature was moderate enough to be surreal at this time of the year, the results were not: two Breeders’ Cup bids went to horses in high-flying turf trainer Chad Brown’s barn. In the Beverly D, a Win... Read more »

The flagship day of Arlington’s racing season, the Arlington Million, is coming up on Saturday, August 12! As always, Picks and Ponderings is here, ready to take you through Chicago’s biggest race day of the summer. We have analysis of all six stakes races in separate posts, and they are all linked here in order of... Read more »

This race is named after Pucker Up, the 1957 Champion Older Female Horse. Owned by Dan and Ada Rice (who campaigned 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair) and trained by Jimmy Conway, she went on a tear at age four. At Arlington, she beat her own sex in the Arlington Matron. Out at Washington Park,... Read more »

The centerpiece of the summer meet at Arlington is the Arlington Million: the world’s first million-dollar Thoroughbred race when it was inaugurated in 1981. Last year’s winner Mondialiste did not return to contest his title, as the two-week turnaround between the York Stakes (G2) and the Arlington Million was a bit too tight. But, one... Read more »

When you have a racetrack, and want to honour your late wife, you can hardly do better than running one of the premier filly and mare turf races of the year in her name. The Beverly D Stakes takes its name from Beverly Duchossois, wife of Arlington Park chairman Richard Duchossois. Beverly Duchossois passed away in... Read more »

The American St. Leger returns to the Festival calendar for the sixth time this year. Not only is the race the newest of the Festival races, it is also the longest, at a mile and eleven sixteenths. Listed for the first three years of its existence, it gained Grade III status in 2015. The... Read more »

The second of six stakes races on Saturday’s Arlington card, the Bruce D. Memorial Stakes is the only one carded for the polytrack, and the only ungraded stakes of the six. Originally run as the Straight Line Stakes between 2012 and 2014, it was renamed in 2015 to honour R. Bruce Duchossois (1950-2014), son of... Read more »

Secretariat’s Triple Crown run in 1973 ensures that he will remain top of mind as a dirt horse. Even the Arlington Invitational, his first race back after his historic Belmont Stakes, was a dirt race. However, the final two starts of Secretariat’s career happened over grass. His turf debut came in the Man o’ War... Read more »

Saturday is the first of this summer’s Saturday twilight racing cards at Arlington: first post is at 4:15 instead of the typical 1:25pm for Saturday. So: set your alarm a little later, go visit the farmer’s market, or enjoy a nice, long brunch before you come out to the racetrack. The nine-race card at Arlington... Read more »

Picks & Ponderings is proud to announce that it is voting once again for equine champions in Illinois. Once again, both halves of Picks and Ponderings are casting ballots — we each do so independently. Both of us explain our decisions here. Votes are made for Illinois Horse of the Year, as well as in a number... Read more »